On June 1, 2026, Marilyn Monroe would have turned one hundred. To mark the centenary, anonymous Franco-Italian artist Micheline Grisolame unveils a collection that places the most recognized face of the twentieth century inside the masterpieces of five hundred years of Western painting.

The Project

MARILYN100 is a collection of one hundred Cyberpaintings: digital artworks in which Marilyn Monroe’s face is integrated into paintings by masters from Antonello da Messina (1470) to Amedeo Modigliani (1919). The result is a visual journey through art history, refracted through a single, universal presence.

The collection is organized into six chronological rooms: Renaissance (1470–1529), Golden Age (1530–1639), Enlightenment (1640–1789), Romanticism (1790–1849), Transformation (1850–1889), and Modernity (1890–1919). Each room traces the evolution of portraiture and female representation across the centuries, with Marilyn as the constant thread.

The Artist

Micheline Grisolame lives and works between Paris and Turin. She communicates only in writing and has chosen to remain anonymous. In September 2017, she visited the exhibition “I grandi artisti interpretano Dolceacqua” at the foot of the Doria Castle in Dolceacqua, Liguria, where curator Riccardo Crosa had introduced the concept of Cyberpainting, codified in his 2017 Manifesto. The visit proved decisive. In 2019, Grisolame delivered a sealed hard drive to Hanse Media™ with a single instruction: “Ne pas ouvrir avant 2026.”

The Cyberpainting

The term Cyberpainting was coined by Riccardo Crosa and codified in the Cyberpainting Manifesto (Dolceacqua, 2017). It describes a form of digital art with sustained human creative direction and AI assistance, where the artist’s vision guides every stage of conception, composition, and refinement. The result is a work that belongs fully to the tradition of painting while embracing the tools of its time.

MARILYN100 ICONS: The Contest

Running from June 1 to November 30, 2026, MARILYN100 ICONS is a free international contest inviting Marilyn Monroe lookalikes worldwide to interpret the Cyberpaintings. Each participant chooses one of the hundred works, recreates the look through clothing, makeup, and setting, and shares the result on social media. A weekly AI-powered ranking, the M100 Index, measures each participant’s impact. The top three win original artworks from the collection, with the first prize valued at $11,000.

The Books

The Breath of Silence is the official art catalog, published by Hanse Media in English and Italian. It presents all one hundred works with curatorial commentary by Riccardo Crosa and a preface by Professor Guido Pagapini. Marilyn Everywhere: The Secret Itinerary, by investigative journalist Stephan Grey, is a travel journal tracing the mysterious path of the collection across Europe, available in English, Italian, French, and Spanish, with twelve venue-specific City Editions.

The Soundtrack

The ambient album The Breath of Silence by AKSONANCE was composed as the sonic companion to the collection. It provides the atmospheric layer for the digital museum at marilyn100.com, and serves as the official soundtrack for MARILYN100 ICONS content on social media.

The Installation

The physical format of MARILYN100 is The Wall: a 5×5 grid of twenty-five works from the collection, designed for museums, galleries, and cultural venues. The installation travels with a quadrilingual audioguide and is accompanied by venue-specific City Editions of Marilyn Everywhere. Venues interested in hosting The Wall can reach the project through the press page.

MARILYN100 is an independent artistic project by Micheline Grisolame, produced by Montecristo International OÜ under the Hanse Media™ Art editorial brand. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Estate of Marilyn Monroe, Authentic Brands Group, or any entity holding rights to Marilyn Monroe’s name, image, or likeness.